Phillip and Norma Thayer opened their chicken restaurant, Valley Broasters in October of 2014. It started as a quiet broasting chicken place on a quiet street out in Grain Valley located at the edge of Blue Springs. Broasted chicken happens when chicken is fried in a pressure fryer which leaves the meat crispy, juicy and not oily. Their chicken was good but their friends started asking Norma for her to feature some of her native Filipino food. It was a niche no one has filled in the Midwest. So, they started to adding Filipino food January of 2016. It first started as a Friday special, then seeped into the weekend, and now it is on their regular menu. Filipino food is a “mixed cuisine of Malay, Indian, Spanish, Chinese, and American, as well as other AsianIndian cuisine adapted to indigenous ingredients and the local palate.” (wikipedia) One of the original asian fusion foods.

After a 40-minute drive from Johnson County, we arrived to the strip mall in Grain Valley where the restaurant sits. It is a very casual place and you walk up to the counter to order. There is a couch right in front of the counter to wait and decide. Between 6 people and 15 minutes of debating on what we wanted to eat we ended up ordering 16 pieces of broasted mixed chicken and sides, and a few Filipino entrees, though not everything we wanted because they had a big weekend and hadn’t had time to restock. Lumpia (shrimp and shanghai), a filipino version of crispy spring rolls, Crispy Pata, Pork Adobo, Kare-Kare, and Caldereta were the Filipino dishes. The biggest disappointment was that we weren’t able to order the Lechon Kawali, a poached pork belly sounded so delicious. The food was plated together on two round platters covered with banana leaves and had centered around a side of rice.

Everything was good. The Crispy Pata is also broasted and just like it sounds knuckle pork, crispy on the outside and juicy inside, kind of similar to Jok Bal but fried. The Kare-Kare (oxtail), Caldereta and Adobo are stewy dishes which made these dishes great with rice. They were tender meat in flavorful stews. The chicken was also awesome and not oily, also not salty. The sides we ordered were the most common items in this uncommon meal, with the chicken: jalapeno poppers, onion rings and coleslaw. To finish, we had sweet sticky rice topped with chocolate and caramel syrups which went perfectly with the fresh mango we saved from the platters. It was a wonderful experience and well worth the drive, but it was a task to drive back home after such a good meal. If you do decide to go, they suggest calling ahead to order. You can find their menu on their online. Otherwise you can wait for the summer when they open a new location closer to Kansas City. Hopefully, they will be open by June of this year at Bannister and 435.

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Posted by:Kansas City Korean Journal

Established in 2010 for the community of Koreans and Korean Americans in the Greater Kansas City area. Working to bring relatable news and events locally and internationally and giving the community a voice to reach others in the city.